AUTO RACING

AUTO RACING; Colombian Rookie Is Fast to Discard Tradition

By LIZ ROBBINS

Published: May 27, 2000

INDIANAPOLIS, May 26—
Juan Montoya was like that smart-aleck student in the classroom with the smirk on his face one night this week, listening to veteran reporters regale him with tales of past Indianapolis 500 races.

Being a first-timer here, Montoya, a 24-year-old from Colombia, seemed at times intrigued, at other times bored and bemused. He traded his own stories, peppering them with his signature devilish grin and language to match.

Montoya said he knows about the race from his fellow Colombian Roberto Guerrero, a 15-time starter. But Indy does not awe Montoya, nor does his irreverence concern him.

''For Americans, this place is heaven,'' Montoya said of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Then he rolled his eyes, adding, ''There's too much tradition here.''

Montoya dismisses tradition as quickly as he does competition. For him, the Brickyard is just a track he has yet to conquer. Told to prepare for the sight of 400,000 roaring fans, Montoya said he was excited. ''A victory in the 500 is pretty important,'' he said. ''I know I can do it.''

He proved that last season as a rookie driving in the Championship Auto Racing Teams series when he won a record seven races and seven poles en route to the title, racing for Chip Ganassi.

Because of a feud dividing open-wheel racing, though, Montoya was not at Indy last year, aside from taking a tour bus around the track. CART teams have not raced in the Indy 500 since the speedway's president, Tony George, formed his own Indy Racing League in 1996 and made Indy its cornerstone. From 1996 to 1999, CART scheduled opposing races on Memorial Day weekend. Though the impasse continues, Ganassi became the first CART team to cross the phantom picket line here, seizing the opportunity when CART originally kept this weekend open.

Ganassi, whose team has won the last four CART titles, used his crowns to bulldoze his sponsors with the news that he was going to return here after a five-year absence. They were enthusiastic, as were his drivers, Montoya and the 1996 CART winner, Jimmy Vasser.

''You always want to do the Indy 500; I've missed it,'' said Vasser, making his fifth Indy start. ''Winning this would certainly rank right at the top with winning the championship.''

Having Vasser and Montoya at Indy has re-energized, if not validated, the quality of the field that has been hurt from the split the past five years. ''I'm glad to see Chip and his guys here,'' the owner A. J. Foyt said. ''He's dominated CART the last four years, and now people can't say the best aren't here anymore.''

It would be significant enough if Ganassi were only in Indy. But Saturday, his two drivers will be in Nazareth, Pa., running the 225-mile CART race rescheduled from April 23 because of snow. Montoya is on the pole at Nazareth, and is starting second at Indy, beat out by the defending I.R.L. champion, Greg Ray, by a tenth of a second.

To pull off the double, Ganassi flew his drivers on his Lear jet into Nazareth tonight, rented an equipment van, a DC-9 charter plane for the pit crew and sponsors, and had four race cars with two different setups to accommodate each series' rules. The venture reportedly cost him from $1.7 million to $2 million.

''You always sit there and figure out a way to do it; that's what racers are all about,'' Ganassi said.

Rain is possible for both events, and Nazareth's rain date is Monday, the same as Indy's. Ganassi said he would worry about that later.

Montoya seemed unfazed by the commute. ''It would be nice if I do well Saturday,'' he said. ''I'll come back and get something to eat, get a good sleep. I'll be fine.''

He is attempting to become the first Indy rookie since 1966 to win here, a challenge because, not counting Vasser, he knows little about the 31 other drivers. ''It's a bit of a disadvantage, but you still have to be aggressive,'' Montoya said.

The I.R.L. drivers know that is his reputation. The two-time Indy champion Al Unser Jr., who signed with I.R.L. in order to return here, had a warning for Montoya this week.

''What's important is the Indianapolis 500 is the father, mother and granddad of all races,'' Unser said. ''He's aggressive, but he'd better respect Indianapolis. Indianapolis will hit you hard. A word of advice to him: they carry people out of here on stretchers.''

Montoya has shown in practice, at least, that he can dominate, even if he hates that his required I.R.L. engine has less power than the one for CART. Within two days, Montoya was the fastest in practice, and on Thursday, the last day of practice, he also recorded the top speed.